COLOMBO: Angelo Mathews has been stripped off his captaincy of Sri Lanka’s limited overs teams following the island’s exit from the Asia Cup, while Dinesh Chandimal has been brought in as captain of all three formats — Test, One-Day International and Twenty20.
The 31-year-old was named as Sri Lanka’s limited-overs skipper in January, six months after the all-rounder gave up the captaincy for both red and white-ball formats following a home series defeat to Zimbabwe. “The National Selectors on Sunday decided to appoint Dinesh Chandimal as the ODI captain to lead the team in the upcoming England series,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a statement. “Accordingly, they have requested Angelo Mathews to relinquish his duties as the National ODI & T20I captain, with immediate effect,” said SLC.
Sri Lanka has won Asia Cup titles for five times, but this time their performance in the Asia Cup was extremely disappointing. The selectors took the step after criticism from around the world.
However, Angelo Mathews accused the country’s cricket board Monday of blaming him solely for the island’s humiliating exit from the Asia Cup.
The 31-year-old all rounder has threatened to retire from the two shorter formats of the game after being dumped on Sunday as captain of Sri Lanka’s one-day international and twenty20 teams.
“I have been made the scapegoat in this entire saga of Sri Lanka’s dismal performance against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup,” Mathews said in a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) did not elaborate on why Mathews was sacked. But it follows Sri Lanka’s drubbing in the Asia Cup, with losses to lower-ranked Afghanistan and Bangladesh ensuring the island nation’s quick exit from the competition. Sri Lanka were thumped by 137 runs against Bangladesh in their opening match of the tournament, and have now lost 30 of their 40 matches since January 2017.
Sri Lanka have been grappling with a leadership crisis over the last 18 months, during which Upul Tharanga, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera and Thisara Perera have also been tried as ODI captains. (Agencies)
